Superbia
by Arford
Summary: This is my attempt at a stronger Naruto; however, not the typical, mythical boy of legend. No. He is but a shadow, entrenched in the dark since a young age.


Namikaze Naruto's eyes were unfazed by the scene before him. Battered genin and breathless instructors. Defeated opponents, incapable of even resting on their knees; downed foes who could barely find the will to look at him. The only abnormality was that all his foes were alive, instead of the typical slaughter his eyes would feast upon.

He had thought it pointless since it was first mentioned, but he could not argue the order - it was from the Sandaime himself. The man had wanted to see how far Naruto had come; and Naruto gladly accepted his charge. He was the village's hidden weapon. The kunai behind the kunai; the shuriken buried in the shadow of its predecessor.

Of course, to be fair, the bout had several restrictions and challenges added to it. It wouldn't have been fair, otherwise. At least, not to Naruto's opponents. This _was_ a test, after all.

And he had succeeded, exceeding the general expectation by leaps and bounds.

Naruto looked around and stifled a yawn; he was getting bored. Sarutobi caught his eye and nodded. Though Naruto's face was shrouded by the shadow of his hood, the Hokage seemed to know that Naruto's gaze lingered on him. The cloaked boy vanished in a swirl of leaves - a rather calm but hasty shunshin - leaving the stunned Konoha troops to think about what had just happened.

Initially, they had all been angered that their target was one lone stranger. They had come prepared today, all of them, under the orders of the Sandaime Hokage to see how they had been coming along as teachers and students. They had expected some sort of simulation or competition.

These 'Rookie Nine' and their senseis were all of notable recognition. And yet… what happened here would have left any viewer in disbelief of such a notion.

The class top kunoichi, Haruno Sakura, a young pinkette, was shivering on the floor. She had been utterly useless against this mysterious ninja, not even landing a single hit or providing any useful information for her allies. Yamanaka Ino, member of the renowned Mind-Walkers' clan, was also disposed of before she could do a thing - before the person she fought today, she was no better than a toddler.

Hyuuga heiress Hinata, supposed 'Alpha' Inuzuka Kiba, Akimichi Chouji and the heir apparent of clan Uchiha, the supposed genius bearing the name of one of the greatest shinobi in history, Sasuke, had all been dispatched as though they were simple fleas. Seeing that, the Nara boy, Shikamaru, had used his brains and figured out that they were in over their heads. The cunning Aburame Shino had attempted to retaliate logically alongside his classmate, the an astonishing orphan by the name of Sai, but had also failed.

The 'Rookie Nine' were laid to waste by a single person.

All of their minds drifted back to what they could make of the victor. He was neither tall nor short, and no physical features were easily distinguishable. A cloak of black spread itself over his entire body, topped with a hood which covered both his hair and face, followed with thick, long sleeves for the owner's arms. The cloak draped down past his knees, sinking to barely above the shin.

With clothing like that, it should have been inconceivable for someone to move without being heard or seen (at least in daylight) and yet he disappeared to the eyes of the genin, save Sai, and even to Kurenai. Of Naruto's opponents, only Sarutobi Asuma and Hatake Kakashi were able to capture a hint of his movements. That alone confirmed the Sandaime's assertions that Naruto's progress as a fighter were far beyond the boundaries of those his age, but he still had to see the entire test through. If not for the sake of actually evaluating said blonde, merely for amusement.

The old monkey chuckled silently to himself as he glanced at the defeated shinobi. He had no doubt that they were rerunning the events in their mind and wondering various questions.

They, no doubt, wondered who he was and where had been before. At least one of them should have recognized his movements, if their opponent had been from the academy. The frustrated looks on their faces left them all at a loss - they had absolutely no clue as to what was going on.

Hiruzen could hardly blame them. He had no doubt that had he been in their situation, he would have felt the same way… had he continued fighting. While the true purpose of this set-up was to analyze Naruto's abilities, it was, in a way, a test for them, as he had said yesterday. He needed to know where his soldiers were, and sad to say, he was rather disappointed in some of them.

They were stoked by their own pride, and they had all let themselves fall prey to just one enemy. Their overconfidence led to a crushing defeat.

These Konoha-nin surely thought that it was a foolish sight for one person to fight them all at once. Their mindsets were too narrow: challenging genin one-on-one would be, perhaps, an issue though more than likely not much of one; challenging genin-three-to one was another thing. And they assumed that having three genin teams under a Nara's command would definitely leave no problems.

When they arrived, they had been informed by the Sandaime that their opponent was a genin. It was predicted that the beating would be brutal for their foe. After all, fighting nine genin ordered around by a super genius would be like guiding a pig to the butcher.

But to incense the large group further, Sarutobi Hiruzen ordered their superiors, the jounins of each group, to partake in the battle as well. They all had thought it to be ludicrous or some sort of cruel joke on them - or perhaps even a punishment for this 'genin' that they were supposed to fight.

And yet, in a span of _minutes_, all the genin were downed, with Sai and Shino being the last to fall. The jounins were already panting heavily, unnerved and exhausted by their opponent. Sakura and Ino had been the first to fall, easily knocked down by light blows that seemed to come from nowhere. Shikamaru lazed about immediately after, acknowledging that he could not physically do anything besides convey orders (though even that was soon negligible, due to everyone frantically trying to not be rendered immobile). Hinata and Kiba had been struck one after another, not exactly softly but only painfully enough for them not to continue. Chouji's thick bones and mass allowed him to push on, but he was dropped soon as well. The so-called prodigy of this generation himself was caught off guard and hit at the base of the neck and back, almost simultaneously. Uchiha Sasuke clutched at the grass and bit his lips, attempting to prevent himself from snarling at the recollection. Forget keeping up with the jounin - he wasn't even the last genin standing.

His mind turned back to replay what had happened after he was displaced onto the soft ground. Since he could do nothing else but watched, he focused his eyes as much as he could, using his genetically gifted perception to pick up as much as he could. He cursed the fact that he did not yet have a sharingan to trace the movements of this stranger, but he had a haunting feeling in his gut that even if he _did_ have a sharingan, it could possibly not have been enough anyway.

It was maybe seconds later after he had fallen from that strike. that Shino and Sai had dropped to the ground, not far from him. Kakashi had to duck as a flurry of kunai barely missed his head, only to find that more had come at a rather difficult angle, forcing Asuma to spare some of his own weapons to negate the assault. That had left Kurenai vulnerable, as the other two were occupied - even though it was but a split second - and a mass of black disappeared, only to seemingly reappear behind Kurenai and take her down with a simple tap to the neck.

To Sasuke, that signalled an immense difference between this so-called genin and the female jounin. Knowing where a human's pressure points were was one concept people seemed to get the wrong ideas about. To know where they are is a useful pool of information, yes, but to accurately find them on an individual was another; all bodies were different, even if only slightly so. To find points so precisely on one target from a distance while attacking others of great skill was no small feat. Then to strike so quickly without leaving room for error was for sure a feat that he would have believed to have been impossible, had he not just witnessed what happened. His throat felt dry when he realized that the person only _tapped_ a _jounin_. Sasuke had spied on some higher-level nin and knew that prior to ANBU, only a handful could even consider what that black-cloaked person had done.

Yet, he did it with such fluidity that had to have been practiced, in some form or another. The Uchiha knew, at that moment, that the nine genin had originally stood no chance - they were fresh-off-the-boat children, not battled-hardened soldiers like their supposed peer.

Even if Kurenai was a brand new jounin and a post-war shinobi, it should have been practically impossible for a genin to dispatch her with such ease. Normal genin who have had but half a year with their instructors should not had the strength or stealth to approach and defeat shinobi of higher rank. How had he done it? Sasuke burned with the desire to know, and to be so capable.

After Kurenai's fall, Asuma and Kakashi had tensed, realizing that this fighter, whoever he was, genin or not, was no one to take lightly. Asuma spat out his cigarette in respect and his chakra knives flashed into his hands. Hatake Kakashi considered lifting his headband, eventually deciding against it. Still, the man took a registered stance while adopting a calculating glance.

What happened afterwards was insane. Sasuke's pulse sped up as he barely caught what had happened. Again, the shadow faded, only to be found clashing with Asuma, using a kunai to match Asuma's blades. Kakashi's hands rushed in a blur of hand seals, before he cast a Doton jutsu aiming to lock down the stranger's lower half - they seemed to figure that his speed was the most threatening of his attributes. It did make sense. How could they defeat someone they could not follow, and therefore could not predict nor hit?

In response, Naruto had leapt back and tossed his kunai at the ground. Confusion swept across the remaining jounins' faces until they recognized that as he had thrown them, the boy had attached exploding tags onto the ring ends of the projectiles. Mounds of dirt flew into the air and the jounin dodged backwards.

Once the dust had settled, Asuma took a deep breath and spat out a flow of wind to complement Kakashi's next move, a Katon. Instead of vanishing like they were accustomed to, Naruto realized the usefulness of the heat and turned the tables against his aggressors. With speed that nobody without a doujutsu could follow, he wove through a fair amount of hand-seals and hit the wave of flames with a stream of water, forcing the formation of gas.

Mist settled itself throughout the air for a minute or two, and when it cleared, Asuma was on the ground, out cold. There had been no sound. There had been no warning whatsoever; not even the dropping of the body had been picked up. And Naruto was nowhere to be seen. That had sent shivers up the spines of any genin watching. Hatake's visible eyebrow rose and the Hokage himself looked genuinely surprised.

The two hadn't seen a style like that in years, much less ever in Konoha. The boy had emulated a form of 'silent killing', often used by Kiri's assassins and successfully mimicked it to down his opponent, though for obvious reasons the Sarutobi male on the ground was very much alive.

At this, Kakashi finally lifted his hitai-ate, revealing a fully-matured, three-tomoe Sharingan. It scanned the area and he jumped high up, avoiding the mass of black that rose from the earth. The irony of it all wasn't lost to Sasuke, who chuckled internally at the scene. He had been a victim of a Doton similar to the one that had just been used on Kakashi, executed on him by said jounin who had plenty more battle experience than he did.

In another exchange of shuriken, the still-unknown opponent had again magically showed up holding Kakashi in a Full Nelson, making everyone blink, as a second of the said masked man held a kunai at the white-haired scarecrow's throat. Given his position, Kakashi had no choice but to yield, though he asked the stranger one question. "How?"

Instead of answering, the stranger pointing the kunai at Kakashi's throat simply motioned beside himself, as another of him simply appeared out of thin air. Kakashi's eyes, his sharingan was still active and spinning wildly, realized the truth of the matter. "Ah. Ingenious use of Kage Bunshin, I must say. I can see how I was duped - I never would have considered a tactic; these things are chakra suckers, after all. Clever use of a distraction, too. And definitely masterful; fresh users of this technique often pour too much chakra in, causing a small puff of smoke to form. To have no such thing occur must mean you are accustomed to the use of such a skill."

It was an odd sight to see, but the veiled opponent seemed to be inclining his head, as though nodding in thanks at Kakashi's approval. The clones dissipated, leaving the original in front of the jounin.

Shortly after that, the blonde had disappeared in a burst of speed like he had shown previously, leaving them to ponder what had happened.

* * *

Naruto approached a cave buried in the depths of Konoha's forty-fourth training ground; he flashed a small bit of his chakra over the seal on the entrance to said cave, allowing him access to its domain. It was never too risky to have a fail-safe. His home was handcrafted, cut by the blades he had resting on the walls. And more than anything else, it could be described as Spartan. There was a bed, though instead of a typical blanket, there was a tiger's skin. In fact, all the cloths around the place were actually the skins of deceased beasts.

A simple table sat at the center of the small cave, with but two chairs. He needed some sort of meeting ground for business, and the commonality between all sorts happened to be a table, so he grudgingly made one. People drank and ate around tables, they crafted works and plans atop them, some gambled on them. Whatever the purpose, it was useful to have. At least he was lucky that his cave was in a forest; there was more than enough wood for his uses.

He glanced at his collection of swords, each unique and earned through either a tedious search or possibly from the corpse of an enemy. His favorites were Sakanade and Kyouka Suigetsu, especially when he used them in conjunction. They were blades imbued with the ability to magnify the effects of genjutsu, and they had their own quirks as well. Kyouka Suigetsu emitted a sort of invisible haze over any opponent foolish enough to glance at it, controlling all five of a person's senses. Sakanade had a similar effect, where it flipped everything around. Forwards was backwards, seeing something at the right meant that it was something on the left, and things like that.

Sakanade's white ring-end was signature, almost as well-crafted as the metal portion. It was pure, yet mischievous, if Naruto could describe the blade. Kyouka Suigetsu, on the other hand, was exceptionally deceitful - its appearance was that of a typical katana, some sort of common ninjato. However, to any skilled swordsman, they would know for sure that this blade was different. It gave off a faint pressure, reacting only to those above a certain level of ability. He smiled at them. These two were his inheritance, left to him by his mother. They were the prized blades of her clan, and he would cherish them for all he was worth.

He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them to gaze at, perhaps the greatest weapon in his arsenal, a sword draped in bandages, and with a shape that clearly bore no guard. A sword once renowned throughout the lands of the Elemental Nations on the back of a crimson-haired executioner.

Of his three primary swords, he used Zangetsu the least, despite it being his mother's signature blade. Its large, solid black form was only different around the blade's cutting edge - its sharpness was rimmed by a sort of silver alloy and it was shaped like a butcher's blade. This was _the_ sword of clan Uzumaki; the weapon of their head, passed down from generation to generation. Legends spoke that the Moon-Cutter was a gift from the Rikudou Sennin himself, built to cleave the moon, should it ever fall to earth. They were unclear as to why the moon would descend and wreak havoc, but it was enough to know that a large mass hitting the planet would do no positives.

There were writings left behind by some clan heads that there was a secret to the Uzumaki blades; that they had used their fuuinjutsu to render their ninjato into weakened states. This way, any decent kenjutsu user would learn to rely on his or her own skill before trusting in his or her blade's given qualities - even as a general rule among swordsmen, it was well-known that any possessor of famous blades tended to succumb to hubris, believing that wielding a great weapon would make its user strong as well.

An Uzumaki head who fell prey to that tradition was not one to last for long; since he was the last of them, he swore to do what he could to prevent himself from allowing his clan to die. And that entailed being as disciplined as possible. He would not succumb.

Any worthy Uzumaki leader would be able to use the blades to their fullest potential, meaning that they would know how and when to unseal their blades. The most interesting aspect of the swords was that their abilities post-unsealing were capable only when a user was able to be in-tune with the blade. Additionally, the swords needed to be resealed when not in use. This, however, was done by each blade's own will, independent of their wielders.

Naruto looked around his home, triple-checking everything before assuring himself it was all in place. Once he exited, he flashed through a variety of hand-seals and shielded the house once more.

Today had only just begun.


End file.
